Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.42 Per Share

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 2nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share on Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Bank OZK has increased its dividend by an average of 11.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 29 years. Bank OZK has a dividend payout ratio of 26.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Bank OZK to earn $5.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.1%.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Shares of OZK opened at $41.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.05. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $37.43 and a 52-week high of $51.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 1.20.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $423.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $419.08 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 26.07%. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James cut Bank OZK from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Bank OZK from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bank OZK from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.25.

Bank OZK Company Profile

Bank OZK provides various retail and commercial banking services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers deposit services, including non-interest bearing checking, interest bearing transaction, business sweep, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other accounts, as well as time and reciprocal deposits.